ARRL News

Global Simulated Emergency Test Scheduled for April (Mar 19, 2009 [REVISED Mar 20, 2009 13:25 ET]) -- IARU Region 1 has invited the HQ stations of IARU Member-Societies, as well as the EOCs of Emergency Communications Groups (ECGs), to participate in the 2009 Global Simulated Emergency Test (GlobalSET), on Saturday, April 18, 2009 from 1100-1500 UTC. The GlobalSET will take place on and near the emergency Center of Activity (CoA) frequencies on 80, 40, 20, 17 and 15 meters, +/- QRM. In the US, ARES groups that will be representing EOCs need to registerthrough their IARU International Emergency Communications Coordinator. Registrations should be e-mailed to ARRL Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Dennis Dura, K2DCD, and must include the call sign (this will be used as the name of the ECG) and the EOC that the ECG is representing, as well as a list of the names and call signs of all operators involved.

This week, ARRL Letter readers are in luck! The ARRL's very own Doctor, author of the popular QST column "The Doctor Is IN," answers a question from his mailbag:

Question -- Don Christensen, W8WOJ, of Midland, Michigan, asks: I am not a frequent user of 2 meters yet; however, I do want to be available for emergency activity. I have a 2 meter handheld transceiver at the ready, but wonder what the preferred procedure is to ensure that my transceiver's nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries are charged and ready for service.

The Doctor answers -- Unfortunately, NiCds might not be the best choice for such an application with intermittent use.

If you run down a NiCd battery pack too low, any strong cells may reverse charge the weaker cells, damaging the weak cells. On the other hand they also don't like being constantly topped off without actual hard use -- this promotes crystal formation, which can short out the cells. They are most happy in applications in which they are used until they discharge significantly, but not all the way and then are just charged until fully recharged. Thus, the idea of having a spare pack that is just kept charged up, but never actually used, is not a good plan.

If you have two packs, they will both last longer if one is used until it runs down and then you switch to the other and promptly recharge the depleted one. Perhaps you can have the radio turned on a few days a week monitoring the local repeater.

Many handheld radios offer battery cases for non-rechargeable Alkaline cells that can be used in place of the rechargeable battery. These are a good choice since they have long shelf life, generally have a longer operating life than a charge with similar sized NiCds, and are usable in field situations in which charging sources are not available.

Another choice, if you must have a rechargeable battery, is to use sealed lead acid or gel cell batteries -- they love to be kept on a float charge until needed, but are bulky and require a separate cable to the handheld.